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Appearing in "Call Them Triad... Call Them Death!"

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Synopsis for "Call Them Triad... Call Them Death!"

Annie Malcolm is spending the evening of her 19th birthday running in abject terror, attempting to flee the unbeatable what appears to be Dracula. Flee as she might, she soon becomes victim of her attacker.

Some nights later, Inspector Chelm has hired special investigator Katherine Fraser (who has the ability to tell who's possessed an object just by touching it) to help him investigate eleven killings in the Rutherton area, killings that Chelm believes may be committed by Dracula even though it's (incorrectly) reported that Dracula has died. Chelm takes Fraser to the local morgue to get a look at the most recent victim, there they meet the mortician Old Amus. Among her possessions is a strange necklace, and when Katherine touches it, it causes her to have visions from a time long past as a man named Y'Garon is about to sacrifice a young woman on an altar for something called the Triad, however Katherine's own screams snap her out of the vision before she can witness the killing strike. Continuing their investigation they learn that none of the victims have risen as vampires after their deaths, putting Chelm's theory on the murders into question.

While back in London, Dracula spends his nights stalking the night clubs and bars of the city looking for his next victim. However, when the waitress of a bar notices Dracula's red burning eyes she has the bouncer throw him out. Later that night when the bar is closed up, Dracula gets his revenge by killing the bouncer and feeding upon the waitress. After his meal, Dracula hears a newspaper boy barking about the deaths happening up in Rutherton. Fearing that whoever is doing this will ruin the safety Dracula's believed destruction brings, the vampire decides to investigate the area himself and destroy whomever is responsible for potentially blowing his cover. Dracula's arrival in bat form does not go unnoticed, as his entry into Rutherton is spotted by Amus, who is believes that Dracula could ruin his plans.

The following day, Katherine is taken out to the site of the murder scene of Annie Malcolm and begins using her powers to "see" what has transpired there. Her impressions direct her to nearby D'Aire Manor. Escorted by Lord D'Aire, they are shown a Runeboard, an item of power that gets power off stones called Hilthstars. Recognizing the stone on Annie's necklace as one of these stones, Katherine tries to place it with the others causing Lord D'Aire to blow his cool and demand that they leave, implicating himself of a secret and potentially spoiling his plans.

Later, Katherine meets up with Inspector Chelm at a pub to report her findings when their attention is suddenly turned to Nobby Clarke, Annie's fiancée. In a drunken flurry Nobby blames D'Aire of murdering his late bride-to-be and storms off to the manor to get revenge. Storming past D'Aire's butler, Nobby finds a strange mystical pool set in the floor in the basement. Upon closer inspection, Nobby is sucked into it and finds himself transported to some infernal realm.

Sent out to gather her thoughts about the case so far, Katherine ends up running into Dracula, and the vampire lord pauses as he remarks how Katherine resembles his late wife Maria. Before the two can act their attentions are turned to a loud scream. They find D'Aire's butler horribly burned, raving about how the flames have consumed Nobby before he himself dies. Inspector Chelm arrives on the scene and pulls his gun on Dracula, however the vampire king dissolves into mist form and escapes. With no way to track Dracula, the two head off to find someone to pick up the body of the dead butler.

Unaware to them, the entire spectacle was being watched by Old Amus, however he appears to more than he seems, and intends on sacrificing both Dracula and Katherine to free his trapped brothers, before firing a mystical bolt that destroys the butlers body.

That night, with Annie's amulet clutched in her hands, Katherine has another vision of the past: How two warriors a man and a woman attempted to stop a mystic named Y'Garon. However, they would fail to do so and the woman would be sacrificed to Y'Garon's masters. This wakes Katherine with a scream, prompting Inspector Chelm to check on her. After he is assured that she only had a bad dream he leaves. Katherine is then visited by Amos, who appears in a strange costume and exhibiting more mystical powers. Amos reveals himself as Y'Garon and puts Katherine in a trance and leads her to the place where Dracula is resting for the day. He orders her to drive a stake through Dracula's heart, however Katherin's fights off Y'Garon's control, being unable to bring herself to slay Dracula and she passes out.

When Dracula rises he wakes the girl and finds that she is still in Y'Garon's trance and uses his own hypnotic powers to free her. Just then a bunch of towns people, also under Y'Garon's spell, burst in trying to kill the vampire lord themselves. The two fight valiantly, but find that they are outnumbered and Dracula smashes a hole in the wall to get free.

Attempting to escape in a car, they spot Lord D'Aire on the road, and Katherine is unable to bring herself to run him down. Grabbing her out of the car, D'Aire knocks her out, and before Dracula can stop D'Aire, he is knocked out by Y'Garon himself who orders D'Aire to prepare the girl for a sacrifice. When Dracula is revived by a police officer and Inspector Chelm, Dracula feast upon the officer before heading to D'Aire Manor to stop the ceremony.

There, Dracula is barred by D'Aire who trains a crucifix on Dracula. However, Dracula shields himself from the cross' view and kills D'Aire by throwing a spear at him. Dracula attempts to enter the room where the ceremony is taking place and is struck down by a mystical bolt. When Dracula revives he finds that Y'Garon has used some of Katherine's blood to revive the Elder Gods and bring them to Earth once more so that they might rule the universe once again. The blood opens a portal causing the tentacles of one Elder God to enter Earth's dimension and wrap itself around Katherine.

Dracula, driven mad thinks that Y'Garon is the Turk who conquered his kingdom and that Katherine is his late wife Maria, breaks free and easily over powers Y'Garon in hand-to-hand combat and tosses him into the pit. Fighting off the creature and freeing Katherine the two flee from the castle. With the sacrifice gone the spell is broken causing D'Aire Manor to explode.

Now safely away, Dracula realizes that sun is coming out soon and snaps out of his insanity and remembers where he is, and that he really killed Y'Garon and Katherine is surely not his wife. Dracula thanks the girl for reminding him of a time when he was human, however he uses his hypnotic powers to make her forget their encounter together before fleeing the scene, leaving Katherine to cry out Dracula's name one last time before the memories of her encounter with the king of the vampires fades from her mind all together.

Appearing in "The Girl in the Black Hood!"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Tales to Astonish #32
(originally printed as Quicksand)

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Synopsis for "The Girl in the Black Hood!"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Tales to Astonish #32
(originally printed as Quicksand)
Tales to Astonish Vol 1 32 001

Two stepbrothers, Edmund and Geoffrey, own an estate out on the moor, but Edmund wishes to destroy his blind brother, so he can have all the estate. He pretends to show good will to Geoffrey and offers to take him out for a walk onto the moor. He leads him to a pit of quicksand and then shouts about running off some poachers and leaves his brother alone. When Geoffrey stumbles into the quicksand, Edmund is overjoyed and makes his way back to the house.

That evening, he feels guilty and cannot sleep. He thinks he hears a noise upon the stairs. To his horror, the door opens, and a thing covered in wet sand slowly advances upon him. He backs away, towards the open window. It turns out that Geoffrey was rescued by leprechauns that live under the bog, and they offer to repair his sight if he stays with them for a week. He is overjoyed and wishes to tell his brother that, once his sight is repaired, he will do what he always wanted to do and go out to sea. This means that Edmund will get the full estate. He is puzzled when his brother doesn't respond. Even though Edmund got what he wanted, he didn't get to enjoy it. Since he was so terrified by what he took to be his brother's corpse seeking revenge, he backed away too far, falling through an open window and into the courtyard below.

Appearing in "On With the Dance!"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Menace #2
(originally printed as "The Man in Black")

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Synopsis for "On With the Dance!"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Menace #2
(originally printed as "The Man in Black")

A communist agent mistakes his contact for the man he is supposed to kill.

Appearing in "Sweet Old Ladies"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Astonishing #18
(originally printed as Jack the Ripper)

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Synopsis for "Sweet Old Ladies"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Astonishing #18
(originally printed as Jack the Ripper)

An American hears stories of a new murder attributed to Jack the Ripper, who has been dead for 20 years, and figures the English are perpetuating a hoax and goes to England to prove that he is really dead. Although the local police try to dissuade him, he locates the cemetery where Jack the Ripper is buried. The groundsman directs him to the grave, but will not accompany him, claiming it is haunted. The man locates the grave, but the Ripper's ghost rises and kills him. The papers report the story, and another American resolves to make the trip to England, beginning the cycle all over again.

Appearing in "Vampire At the Window"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Astonishing #18
(originally printed as Jack the Ripper)

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Synopsis for "Vampire At the Window"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Astonishing #18
(originally printed as Jack the Ripper)

An American hears stories of a new murder attributed to Jack the Ripper, who has been dead for 20 years, and figures the English are perpetuating a hoax and goes to England to prove that he is really dead. Although the local police try to dissuade him, he locates the cemetery where Jack the Ripper is buried. The groundsman directs him to the grave, but will not accompany him, claiming it is haunted. The man locates the grave, but the Ripper's ghost rises and kills him. The papers report the story, and another American resolves to make the trip to England, beginning the cycle all over again.

Appearing in "Drive of Death"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Astonishing #17
(originally printed as The Werewolf of Wilmach!)

Synopsis for "Drive of Death"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Astonishing #17
(originally printed as The Werewolf of Wilmach!)

A man plans to rob the banker of a village that believes it is being subject to werewolf attacks. When the banker interrupts him opening the safe, he stabs the banker, but not before he sees the werewolf tattoo on his arm and cries out. When the villagers gather around him he tells them about the werewolf tattoo and dies. The man gets the idea of capturing the village idiot and tattooing a werewolf on his arm so as to pin the blame for the killing on him. He succeeds in doing this, but then the idiot transforms into a real werewolf and kills him.

Notes

  • Series numbering continued from Giant-Size Chillers Featuring Curse of Dracula #1
  • This issue states the fact that those drained of their blood by a vampire will rise as a vampire again themselves after three days. While this is accurate according to vampire lore established in Bram Stoker's Dracula, writers of the Tomb of Dracula series have seldom used this as a limitation on how quickly one can be risen as a vampire, and have often depicted it as something that usually happens shortly after natural death.

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